1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a composition comprising a mixture of full fat, enzyme active, dehulled soybean flakes and potato flakes, for making a soy protein enriched and soy oil containing mashed potato product exhibiting excellent nutritional, taste and texture properties. Also, to method for making said mashed potato product from said composition; and to said mashed potato product per se.
2. Background and Description of Related Art
Soybeans have long been a staple of the Asian diet in multiple food forms including tofu and soymilk, among many other soy based and fermented foods. Soybeans are excellent sources of protein. Enzyme active soy protein, i.e., soy protein which has not been denatured, has a desirable amino acid profile for nutritional purposes, and includes other health promoting elements such as phytoestrogens. In recent years, demand for soy foods has grown dramatically in the United States and other western countries, principally in the form of meat analogues, nutrition bars and powdered nutrition beverages prepared from soy protein isolates and concentrates. Chemically fractionated soy ingredients and soymilk are prepared by modernized methods to reduce much of the traditional “beany” flavor favored in the East, but severely objected to in the West. Demand for natural and organic foods has grown at an extraordinary rate. Foods designated “natural” and/or “organic” generally cannot utilize chemically processed materials. The soy ingredients commonly used today are not full fat or oil, having been treated with solvents such as hexane to remove fats or oils. The terms fats and oils are used interchangeably with respect to soybeans in the prior art and in this application. The defatted concentrates or isolates do not qualify as natural or organic, as has been increasingly popular in today's market. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,495,140 and 6,426,111, for example, illustrate preparation of soy fractionates and/or isolates using solvent extraction. The soybean flakes used in the present invention are made from full fat, enzyme active, dehulled soybeans, such as by the method recited in U.S. Pat. No. 4,895,730. The soybean flakes used in the present invention qualify as “natural”; and when prepared from soybeans qualifying as organically grown, also qualify as organic foodstuffs.
Full fat, enzyme active (i.e., wherein the proteins are undenatured), dehulled soybeans are excellent sources of elements necessary for good health, and supply outstanding nutritional and nutraceutical benefits. Undenatured soybeans and soybean flakes are excellent sources of protein, iron, vitamin-B, calcium, lecithin and isoflavones. In particular, the lecithin content is from about 2.7 to 3.1 percent. Soybeans also contain essential minerals including phosphorus, which is an essential element used by the body for building bones. Soy isoflavones are now considered helpful in reducing risks for cancer, heart disease, and osteoporosis. Pure soya contains about 38-42%, 18-22% fat or oil (of this lecithin is 2.7-3.1%), 25-35% carbohydrate, 1.5-2.5% minerals, 3-5% fiber, and 5-6% water. Full soya flour furnishes about 89 grams of protein per 1000 calories, i.e., about 132 grams of protein and 44 grams oil per 1000 grams. By contrast potatoes contain only about 21 grams of protein per 1,000 calories. In addition, since soybeans do not contain particular glutens, products containing substantial amount of soybeans offer an alternative for people suffering from celiac disease and/or gluten allergies. Full soya flour contains about three times the grams of protein per 1000 grams as lean beef. A “typical analysis of soy flour and grits appears in “The Soybean Digest”, Vol. 19, No. 8, June 1959, pages 8 to 9, as follows:
FullHighLowfatfatfatDefattedProtein, %40.045.048.052.0Fat, %20.015.05.00.5Fiber, %2.52.53.03.0Ash, %5.05.05.56.5Moisture, %8.08.08.08.0MicroSoy full fat, enzyme active soybean flakes contain 40.48% protein, 19.0% fat, 2.1% fiber, 4.79% ash, 8.08% moisture and 27.59% carbohydrate.
There exists in the prior art need for soy protein enriched products, while maintaining good taste, texture, and processibility in standard food processing equipment. Applicants and the prior art face the problem that unfortunately products containing large amounts of soybeans tend to exhibit undesirable taste and/or texture properties. For Example, products containing large amounts of soy materials, may exhibit unpleasant characteristics including chalkiness and/or mouth dryness, grittiness, grassy flavor, bitter flavor, salty flavor, and astringency. Moreover, applicants and the prior art face the problem that soybeans do not contain certain proteins, such as the prolamins, gliadin or glutenin, nor sufficient starches, that provide elasticity, cohesiveness and binding during processing.
An average serving of potato (one medium potato or about 148 grams) contains only 3 grams of protein. There is a need for a mashed potato product having significantly increased protein content, without negatively affecting the consumer acceptance thereof, and to make the health claim of providing a minimum of 6.25 grams of soy protein per serving. Additionally, potato products, such as mashed potatoes containing 100% potatoes, are known in the art to exhibit a bland starchy taste and pasty feel. This is due in part to the fact that potatoes contain large amounts of starch, and little or no fat or oil. Moreover, potato is in the nightshade family and suspect in certain arthritic maladies. Applicants' inventive product contains a smaller percentage potato that ordinary mashed potato.
Applicants have discovered that unexpectedly full fat, enzyme active soybean flakes made from mechanically dehulled soybeans, when mixed with potato flakes, provide a composition that avoids the problems faced by the prior art of undesirable taste and texture properties. Applicants' composition and method unexpectedly results in a soy protein enriched, soy oil containing mashed potato product, which exhibits excellent nutritional, taste and texture properties.
Addition of small amounts of soya flour to mashed potatoes has been mentioned as early as 1941 (The Soybean Digest, Vol. 2, No. 9, December 1941, pages 2 to 5). U.S. Pat. No. 4,005,139 illustrates dehydrated potato solids in the form of flakes, granules and/powder, and containing various additives, binders, fillers, gums, and texturizing agents, in which the potato portion constitutes at least 50% of the mixture. The dehydrated potato solids are disclosed to be formed into slurry or dough, and used subsequently for preparing products suitable for deep frying. U.S. Pat. No. 6,066,353 illustrates dehydrated potato flakes prepared from potato slices, slivers and/or nubbins, which flakes are used to prepare more cohesive, non-sticking, machinable dough compositions. U.S. Pat. No. 6,235,333 illustrates a sheetable dough composition useful for making fried snack pieces. The sheetable dough composition is disclosed to comprise about 50% to about 70% of a starch-based material, wherein said starch-based material comprises from about 25% to about 100% dehydrated potato flakes.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,235,333 further indicates that the starch-based material may contain other ingredients including potato flour, tapioca flour, peanut flour, wheat flower, oat flour, rice flour, corn flour, soy meal, corn meal, potato starch, tapioca starch, corn starch, oat starch, cassaya starch and mixtures thereof. U.S. Pat. No. 6,287,622 similarly discloses 30-60% “other starch” such as soy meal.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,911,142 illustrates a ready-to-eat snack type wafer made by dry mixing potato flakes and various ingredients including soy protein, blending with water, followed by sheeting or extruding, and then baking or frying. U.S. Pat. No. 3,950,550 shows making a fried tofu product by forming a kneaded soy dough, which may contain potato starch, into a desired shape, and deep frying the shaped material in two successive stages. U.S. Pat. No. 6,479,089 illustrates a cohesive soy based machinable dough comprising soy grits and potato starch as one of the additional ingredients.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,177,116 discloses a dough composition useful for preparing fried chips, which composition is a starched-based material comprising from about 40% to about 90% combined potato flakes and granules, and from about 10% to about 60% of other starch containing ingredients selected from potato flour, tapioca flour, peanut flour, wheat flour, oat flour, rice flour, corn flour, soy meal, corn meal, potato starch, tapioca starch, cornstarch, oat starch, cassaya starch, and mixtures thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,291,009 teaches making chips or crackers using soy flour and potato flour. U.S. Pat. No. 5,866,192 discloses preparation of an edible material containing soybean walls purported to have a good taste and mouthfeel, and useful similarly to soybean jam or mashed potato.
Japanese patent document #53-133657, dated Nov. 28, 1978, illustrates a method comprising kneading with water a dry potato powder mixture, containing added gluten powder, optionally together with 1% or more soybean protein powder, dry egg white powder, polysaccharide and starch; followed by molding the obtained dough into suitable form, and frying it in suitable oil.
Japanese patent document 44-11594 (1969) illustrates a method of producing soybean paste powder that can be suitably crushed and treated, characterized by adding 3% to 25% steamed potato or dried mashed potato flake to uncooked soybean paste and drying using a single drum dryer.
Japanese patent publication #07-227239, published Aug. 29, 1995, shows imitation potato made by gelling a mixture of potato flakes and vegetable fibers (e.g., the vegetable fibers of soybean flour), to which a gelling agent has been added.